Comment by buro9
14 years ago
I went through UK security clearance and can tell you that the process is to determine whether your personal/sexual habits are likely to make you vulnerable to blackmail. Not so that the government or agency can blackmail you.
That is: If you happen to be into BDSM and this is something you keep extremely private, then what would you rather give up? Your personal privacy or a piece of sensitive data?
So the interviews at different levels determine whether you can be trusted with the information based on the risk you pose to factors such as blackmail, or financial rewards, etc.
This is mainly why they killed Turing.
Turing died because his lifestyle was illegal and he was being punished for it, not because it was a secret.
Turing died because he had a head full of military secrets and consorted with gay prostitutes, and was therefore considered a security (blackmail) risk.
Obviously it was more complicated than that, but I consider this to be the primary reason.
2 replies →